Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

"The word aya (pl. ayat) means sign, symbol, token or mark of distinction, thus it refers to the verse of the Koran. The word aya occurs 400 times in the Koran. The Koranic ayat are long as well as short. Among the longest aya is the one known as Ayat al-Kursi (2:255) and the short one is "inclining to blackness" (55:64).

The first revealed aya is "Read: In the name of thy Lord Who created" (96:1), and the last aya is "This day I have perfected your religion, and completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as the religion" (5:3).

There existed a slight difference in the numbering of ayat in the different centers of learning, whose detail is given below:-

1. Kufan verses : The readers in Kufa hold that they followed the custom of Ali bin Abu Talib, and their way of reckoning is also adopted in Indo- Pakistan. They reckon 6239 verses.

2. Basran verses : The readers of Basra followed Asim bin Hajjaj and reckon 6204 verses.

3. Syrian verses : They followed Abdullah b. Umar, reckoning 6225 verses.

4. Meccan verses : According to this arrangement, there are 6219 verses.

5. Medinan verses : This way of reading contains 6211 verses.

It must be noted that the above all contain the same number of words, 77639, the same number of letters, 323015.